With the World Cup well underway in South Africa we thought it was high time to put a few of our own predictions on virtual paper. With 32 nations taking part, the odds are saying that the top spot will be taken by either Spain or Brazil. 

Europe is the most represented continent with 13 countries entered while there has been a growing interest in the African nations who qualified.

Here’s a look at some of the favourite teams:

Argentina
Argentina has Lionel Messi on their side and therefore cannot be overlooked as contenders. There are, however, some factors against them; they performed poorly during the qualifiers and they had to rely on winning their last fixture in order to qualify. They also haven’t gone past the quarter-final stage since 1986, during which the infamous Maradonna hand-ball incident happened against England.

Germany
This team was unbeaten in qualifying and only stumbled to draws twice. They have a good World Cup record, winning it three times and finishing as runners up four times. Their current team isn’t seen as their strongest but it does contain some of the world’s current greatest players such as Michael Ballack and Lukas Podolski. Podolski has one of the best goal scoring records with a strike rate of 0.7 per game.

England
England has one of the strongest line-ups on paper. With world-class players spread throughout the pitch there is no reason for them not to go far. What might be a set-back is that England seems to be stuck in the cycle of playing the supporting role in the World Cups.

Brazil
Brazil is the ranked 2nd highest in the world according to FIFA and are the 2nd favourites to win the 2010 World Cup. With Robinho and Kaka, Brazil should cruise right through.

Spain
Spain are the favourites and are aiming to follow the Euro 2008 victory with the World Cup title too. Spain has the strongest line-up but they do, however, have a tendency to stumble- they haven’t gone past the Quarter Finals since 1950 when they reached the semis.